Then Katelyn Tuohy, 16, came into the media area at Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland, Oregon. Fidgeting in front of a swaying backdrop, with a light shining directly on her forehead, she prepared for more cameras. More questions.

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As she did her best to answer them, Brian Diglio, her coach from North Rockland High School in Thiells, New York, stood at the back of the room, watching.

Nils Ericson

Asked how he keeps his star runner’s life sane, he answered: “I don’t think anything about this is sane.”

Tuohy’s performances have made her worthy of the attention. A junior, she has dominated high school running for the past two years, winning her cross-country races by astonishing margins. In September, she ran 16:06.87 for a 5K at a large invitational in Rhode Island, a time that would have put her ahead of all of the boys racing that day except for one. She ran a 4:56 opening mile and finished more than 2 minutes ahead of second place.

In Portland at season’s end, against many of the country’s top runners, she ran 16:37.8. The runner-up, Kelsey Chmiel, a senior from Saratoga Springs, New York, was 17 seconds back, which is about 90 meters, but a narrow victory by Tuohy’s standards. (The year before, Tuohy had beaten Chmiel by 40 seconds.)

Chmiel’s own performances at Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) have been remarkable—she finished fourth as a freshman and fifth as a sophomore, before her two second places behind Tuohy. In her last high school cross-country race, Chmiel cracked the 17-minute barrier, running 16:54, putting her among the fastest girls of all time. Any other year, the cameras would have been on her.

Instead, the focus is on Tuohy, as it has been since the beginning of the 2017. To date, she’s posted only 19 times on her public Instagram, but she has garnered more than 46,000 followers on the network. Tuohy has more followers than at least two female American record holders on the track.

Katelyn Tuohy following her second NXN win on Saturday.

Nils Ericson

For a few weeks in November, she appeared vulnerable, as she missed a meet with tendinitis in her knee. She feared her season was over. But she was able to recover quickly, in time to qualify and run in postseason competition.

With her training interrupted, she felt she wasn’t as strong in the middle of the race.

“I went out way too fast,” she said. “I got pretty excited and paid for it toward the end. I think I’m more happy with how I finished the race mentally than my time, just because it got really tough earlier than I expected. I kept my composure and just finished strong.”

“Everything I do is impacted by that decision to want to make it to the Olympic trials.”

Next she’ll focus on track season, indoor and outdoor, where she’ll try to improve upon her PRs of 15:37 for 5,000 meters, and 4:33 for the mile.

Tuohy plans to return to Portland her senior year, aiming to become the only runner to win NXN three times. And longer term, she hopes to qualify for the 2020 Olympic track and field trials, most likely in the 5,000 meters. She would be 18 years old then.

“Definitely I think that’s my main focus right now,” she said. “Everything I do is impacted by that decision to want to make it to the Olympic trials. That’s definitely my big-picture goal for the future.”

Nils Ericson

Her coach, though, has one thing on his mind: A little rest for her.

“Let’s take a break,” Diglio said. “Now she just needs to be a high school kid, focus on her homework and school and all that kind of stuff.”

Along with her parents, he tries to deflect the attention, from media outlets and others, as much as possible.

“She’s a shy, private kid, and she likes being around her teammates and you try and make her enjoy this as much as possible,” he said. “It’s very tough finding that balance, because people have their jobs to do, but you want her to have fun with this, too.”

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